100 Tales 85
I'm On My Way
Today, I cleaned Vixen's nest. She had gone somewhere else, to do something; I don't know what. She came back in a bad mood.
"Over there," she said stonily, pointing to the rock where she usually trained me for pain. I obediently got up and scampered over to where I should go. Vixen was in a bad mood; I was assuming that she wanted to take her anger out on something—and that was me. I was always eager to please her.
She snapped the shackles into place, and sharpened her claws on a rock, and brought them down on me. She gnawed on my belly for a little while; then she sunk her claws in deep and dragged them across my belly. She dislocated my legs and jabbed them back again. She jumped onto me and jabbed her paws into my wounds. She kicked me.
All of a sudden, she undid the shackles. "Don't move!" she ordered me. She grabbed me by the scruff and slammed me into a nearby tree. Her movements were filled with anger. She slammed my face into the ground several times, and I began to bleed. She dragged me across the hard rock-filled ground on my belly. She stuffed dung into my wounds, then into my mouth. She then dragged me out of our little place in the forest and threw me into the lake in the next clearing. It was cold! She took me out, then attached me back to the shackles. She muttered something about, "I am so mad; I HATE THOSE CATS!!! I'll just leave Bug here for a while."
Then, she left me alone. She went back into her nest.
As the night went on, it began to rain.
I didn't sleep until dawn.
It felt like I had only been asleep for a few moments when Vixen unlocked the shackles, and woke me up.
"Go hunting for me, please," she ordered. I scampered off into the forest.
I enjoyed the morning sunshine. After I had caught some prey, I sat for a little while, wondering what was up with Vixen's behavior last night. She had seemed really mad. Plus, I had been pretty badly injured. I wondered…
…and then I knew.
A word flashed into my mind.
Slave.
And for a second, it felt like I could every one of Vixen's thoughts.
The time for trusting, I guess, is over. I need to make Bug into a real slave. It's been quite a few moons. I guess the time for feeding her is over… I will just have to make her live without food, most of the time.
After hearing these thoughts, I was scared. I wondered what she could possibly do to me.... How bad she could make my life.... So, I ran.
I ran and ran, intent on going back to my Clan.
I'm on my way, my precious Clanmates, I whispered to myself when I had been running for a couple of hours, or so. I'm on my way.